Together we can win: How can we keep up with changing times amid the coronavirus outbreak?

Many Postal workers have become redundant due to email culture, travel websites are making many travel agents redundant, accounting automation softwares are making many accountants redundant, chatbots are making many call centre executives redundant.

Vaibhav Pitale

Since 2017, many leaders across the world have been talking about the Tech Disruption which is making people redundant in multiple industries. Many Postal workers have become redundant due to email culture, travel websites are making many travel agents redundant, accounting automation softwares are making many accountants redundant, chatbots are making many call centre executives redundant, job recruiters are getting replaced by websites, and so on.

In the tech world, I still remember in the year 2017, many companies across the world were badly hit due to the virus named as The WannaCry – a ransomware attack due to which computers which were targeted their data was being encrypted and the only way to get access to one’s own data was by paying ransom payment that too in Bitcoin cryptocurrency.

No one even in a dream would have thought a virus like the novel coronavirus will move from one city to another city, from one country to another country and will adversely impact the lives of millions of people around the world like a huge wave in the sea which comes like a tsunami to devour millions of people at one go. There are even a few people who say that the current coronavirus pandemic will leave the world with an impact that would be bigger than World War I or World War II.

Its high time everyone remembers that today we live in the VUCA World (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity). The only thing which has been constant in this world today is one word that is CHANGE.

There is a famous saying “Survival of the Fittest”, while reading more about this saying I came across something interesting. Steven Lewis says, “Our house sits in the middle of the woods, with poisonous snakes in the grass and snapping turtles in the ponds, where the survival of the fittest punctuates each day”. It's part of human nature to be competitive; after all, survival of the fittest is the basis of evolution.

How do we evolve in changing times, or how do we change with changing times?

If people are able to get out of complacency, then it would be easier for them to rise. To make it easier for you to understand my point, I would like to present this with something you can relate to: If you are swimming upstream in a river, the moment you stop moving your hands you will go down within seconds. One has to continuously strive towards new things; the moment one gets complacent in the VUCA world, one will lose the grip.

From the time I was pursuing my Master’s degree in Financial Management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, one of the things which is still remain close to me is the motto of our college, “setting new standards in the business of management”.

Due to the impact of coronavirus, everything in the world around us is so negative, energy levels are coming down, level of uncertainty is on the rise. Forget about thriving in these times, people are thinking only about surviving. When I reflect back on the motto of my college, I strongly feel that in addition to setting new standards, if people also gradually raise the bar they will not only be able to survive but will also be able to thrive in times to come.

If you are leading a team, then one must also get the subordinates also to fully embrace new standards, and ultimately hold each other accountable and enforce them with each other, to create a culture of Growth that allows one to consistently win in one’s journey.

When I was a child, I had heard a story of how it’s easier to break one stick but it’s very difficult for anyone to break multiple sticks which are tied together like a bundle. As I made progress in the corporate world, this story is still fresh in my mind. In addition to setting new standards it’s also important to work as a team to achieve our shared goals or shared vision. Even in the case of coronavirus, if we want to break the chain, we have to set new standards and fight this war together. After all, there is a famous saying, together we win.

Mr. Vaibhav Pitale currently works as Senior Vice President New Installation - Sales at Schindler India Pvt. Ltd, since the time Mr. Pitale has joined Schindler India in 2001 he has worked on varied roles. Mr. Pitale is alumnus of two reputed institutions of India namely the VJTI and the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.